


The Dwarf, the Lonely Mountain, and the Dragon

by eschscholzia



Series: The Ethnography of Rhûn [1]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Double Drabble, Gen, Mischief, Sibling Rivalry, dogs behaving badly, knot-tying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2018-10-02 00:17:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10204238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eschscholzia/pseuds/eschscholzia
Summary: The people of Dol Amroth are a seafaring people, so knots are a key part of life. Knot-tying comes to some of them more easily than others. A series of interconnected ficlets as Ivriniel and siblings put their lessons to use on adventures. Or are they escapades? Misadventures are in the eye of the beholder.





	1. Bowline

“Try it again, please?” asked Ivriniel of the crusty white-haired First Mate of her grandfather’s flagship.

He held his length of rope up between them. “Once there was a dwarf. He stored all his treasure in a tunnel in the Lonely Mountain. Then a dragon swooped down and caught him up.”

Ivriniel was determined to master this knot, but she felt the tears starting to prick behind her eyes. She ducked her face in her long black hair. She wanted to make grandfather proud; she was of Dol Amroth, after all!

“I wanna try!” piped up a small voice beside them.

“Run along, Immy,” she muttered through clenched teeth. She. Would. Not. Cry.

She turned herself to sit by the First Mate’s side, facing his same direction. She pinched her rope at elbow’s length. “Here is the dwarf, and he stored his treasure in the Lonely Mountain. Then the dragon swoops down and catches him up.”

She handed over the knot to the First Mate. He clamped his pipe between his teeth while he pulled at the knot. It slid back and forth.

“Hmm… but you’ll get it soon.”

“Done!” said Immy, a perfect bowline knot swinging from his hand.


	2. Clove Hitch

Seated tailor-style on the floor, Ivriniel studied the piece of rope in her hand and the balustrade in front of her. Around the back, make a cross, tuck the working end under the X, pull tight.

“What do you plan to hitch to the bannister?”

She jumped, startled, and looked up at her cousin Cúronen looming above. She brushed her skirts with her hands and stood up.

“I’m just practicing my knots, and there are lots of pieces of wood here. Don’t mind me.”

Cúronen pursed his lips and nodded slowly. Then he looked over her shoulder at the grand receiving line for her parents’ ball down below.

“Does the fact that there are scores of exciting people passing below have more to do with your particular location, perhaps?”

Ivriniel poked Cúronen in his velvet-covered shoulder. “It’s not fair! Just because you’re an adult now, and an officer on grandfather’s ship, and all, you get to go. I want to see everything too.”

Cúronen, ever-patient, squatted down on the balls of his feet next to the bannister. He tugged on the rope. “It’s sound; now you need to practice tying it one-handed.”

Ivriniel felt a grin stretch her face. Progress!


	3. Two Half Hitches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ivriniel learns the hard way that there are sturdy Two Half Hitch Knots, and there are easy-release Two Half Hitch Knots, and you need to plan ahead for contingencies.

“You see, tying two half hitches is just making a clove hitch on itself,” explained the First Mate.

Ivriniel sat back on her heels. “Oh,” she said. “Oh!” Tentatively, she made the first half hitch, and then around again, tucking the working end through the X. She carefully snugged the loops, forming the knot. She held it up between her hands for his inspection.

The First Mate carefully took it from her fingers, turning it around in his hands, nodding. “That’s good,” he said. “Two half-hitches is an essential knot. You’ll need it for holding two things together, or hitching something to a post.”

Several days later, Cúronen found Ivriniel hunched over on a bench in the family’s private garden. He sat next to her, putting his arm around Ivriniel without looking at her. “It’s amazing how much damage a Belfalas wolfhound can do to tables of tea cakes and punch.” Cúronen’s voice was hushed with both awe and sympathy.

“I tied the two half hitches exactly.” Ivriniel blew her nose into her lace handkerchief.  

“Next time make an extra loop around the post first,” Cúronen suggested. “And don’t tie it on a bight. Those Belfalas wolfhounds are incredibly smart.”


	4. Square Knots

“I have them!” crowed Finduilas, entering the room, her arms full. The corner of one bedsheet trailed behind her, its embroidered swan crest adorned with a puff of lint. Ivriniel apprised the pile with a gimlet eye uncharacteristic for one of her age.

  
“Did you have any trouble with Lady Aredhel?” Ivriniel asked.

  
Finduilas shook her head. “I pulled the counterpane back up over my pillows, just like you suggested. She’ll never notice.”

  
“Bully! Set them on the table,” Ivriniel pointed. “We need to get to work.”

  
The sisters bent over their work, their matching black braids dangling between their wrappers and their work. Ivriniel looked at her sister and paused.  
“Oh Findy, you don’t want to use a square knot to tie those together. They’re good for most purposes, but they could come apart under stress, and this is not a situation we want to leave for chance.”  
Finduilas sucked in her breath.

  
“What are you doing?” a small voice piped behind them. The sisters turned to see a small boy, bare feet peeking out from under his nightshirt. Ivriniel’s hand went to the cord of her wrapper.

  
“Findy, I think we found a use for your square knots.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Suggested by the diabolical MedeaSmyke. Technical advice from my Dear Husband, the COPES/Climbing instructor.


	5. Sheet Bends

“You’ll never get away with this!”

  
Ivriniel sighed. She pushed a stray curl out of Imrahil’s face, tucking it behind his ear. “Immy, I have to do this. Peg is in trouble. We have to rescue him!”

  
“I’m going to tell Lady Aredhel!” He struggled against the knots holding him to the bedpost, but Finduilas had done her work well.

  
“Findy, let’s get back to those sheet bends.” The sisters took a step back, and returned to their work.

  
“Should we stuff a handkerchief in his mouth, like in grandfather’s corsair stories?” Findy asked as her brother continued his threats.

  
Ivinriel looked around them at the thick stone walls. Nobody would hear. There was a reason the nursery was in the far part of Castle Amroth. “He won’t tell,” she replied. Her eyebrows narrowed. Lifting her voice slightly, she looked over her shoulder. “I know about the cakes going missing from the kitchens.”

  
“But you were there too!”

  
Finduilas looked between her siblings in surprise.

  
Ivriniel’s face was hard and cool, like granite. “Yes, but would it be worth it to sell you into Harad with me? I have a month of punishment hanging over me. What is one more?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N  
> Peg is Ivriniel’s favorite Belfalas Wolfhound, too smart by half. Peg is currently pining away for Ivriniel, banished to the mews after laying waste to the garden party in Chapter 3.
> 
> I felt a little weird making the “selling into Harad” reference, but decided to leave it in. It’s just a phrase in her head that she heard somewhere (maybe grownups were talking about Corsairs) and she’s never really thought about what it means. She is just using it in terms of “I’m going to take you down with me.” It sets things up for the later stories when adult Ivriniel travels Middle Earth and realizes what a privileged upbringing she’s had.


End file.
